Revolving adjustable paper-file or other rack



(NoModeL) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

C. H. DEXTER.

, REVOLVING ADJUSTABLE PAPER FILE OR OTHER RACK.

Patented July 10, 1888.

I] All? N 7 1 4272 ass as Z W 9%). (5W4 (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

8 O. H. DEXTER.

REVOLVING ADJUSTABLE PAPER FILE OR OTHER RACK.

No. 385,699. Patented July 10, 1888.

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CHARLES H. DEXTER, OF ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND.

REVOLVlNG ADJUSTABLE PAPER-FILE OR OTHER RACK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 385,699, dated July 10,1888.

(No morlcl.)

justable Paper-Files or other Racks; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention consists in certain constructions, combinations, and arrangements of the parts of a revolving adjustable rack' adapted either for holding papers on file in of does, hotels, and libraries, or harness, or price-cards, with goods on exhibition at stores, or clothes in laundries while drying, or caps, hats, wean ing-apparel, and umbrellas in halls of d wellings, as will be hereinafter described and specifically claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Fig. 1 is a side elevation and partial section of my improved rack, with one of its arms removed and hung in a vertical position on its support against the staff, the papcrfile clamp, the price-card holder, and the goods-supporting stands being removed from the arms. Fig. 2 is an inverted plan view of the rack-hub with all of its arms except one in position for use. Fig. 3 is a vertical section of a portion of the central staff,showing the staying and support ing legs removed from the lower sockets ofthe socket-ring, inverted, placed alongside the staff, and secured in intermediate upper bottomless sockets cast upon the legsocket ring. Fig. 4 is a horizontal section just above the leg-socket ring. Fig. 5 is a vertical section illustrating the fastening-latch of the adjusting and supporting collar for the revolving hub and its arms in two positions-namely, in its latching position and in its reversed position to slip past the latching-notches when the said collar is lowered. Fig. 6 is a hori' zontal section through the adjusting, supporting, and latching collar, showing the rackarnis adjusted along the central staff and hung upon their support. Fig. 7 is a side view of one of the rack-arms detached from the revolving hub. Fig. Sis a side elevation and partial section of the said arm provided with a paperlile clamp, and showing holcsiu it for the reception of a price-card holder and stand for a hat or other article. Fig. 0 is a side view of said arm with the stand for support ing a hat or other store goods, such as caps or bonnets and the like, the paper-clamp being removed. Fig. 10 shows the arm with the price-cardholder in position. Fig. 11 shows in detail the clamp and its iasteningnuts. Fig. 12 shows the stand for supporting store goods in detail; and Fig. 13 the card-holder in detail.

A .in the drawings represents the central staff of the rack. It is made circular in crosssection, except being slightly flattened, as at (t, on one side. On the flattened side of the staff are provided spaced latching notches a, formed on a bevel from their tops,where they begin, to their bottoms or termini, where they present square latchingshoulders.

B is a revolving rack-arm hub fitted loosely around the staff A and carrying rack-arms I).

O is an adjustable latching collar fitted around the start.

D is a cast-metal ringsocket for sustaining the tripod-legs E of the rack-start A.

F is a flaring drip-receiver, made of metal or other material, for supporting umbrellas and catching and holding water dripping therefrom. The revolving hub B comprises a collar, b, a horizontal circular disk, 0, a vertical circular flange, d, below this disk, and a series of radial plates, (1, for forming rack-arm sockets, rectangular in transverse section, and united by short horizontal bottom plates, I)". The plates d extend out from the flange d to points beyond the circular disk, and are fast' cued at their extremities to ahorizontal ring, 6, which is on a plane nearly level with the bottom edge of the circular flange cl, as shown.

The arm-sockets, formed as described, are partly closed at bottom, but are open at. top and bottom and at their front beyond the disk 0, as shown, and are adapted for the admission of the raclcarmsb and for supporting them in position. Each rack-arm b is provided with a retaining-notch, f, and from thisnotch to ward the hub it is of a size and form to correspond with the form of the rack-arm socket, while forward ofthis notch it may be tapered, as shown. By thus constructing the racloarms and the sockets of the hub the arms can, by

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being inclined slightly in vertical planes while they are radially in line with the sockets, be forced into the sockets until their notches f coincide with the supporting-ring e, whereupon, by withdrawing the hand from the arms they will drop upon the ring 6 and be held by their notches and the parts forming the sockets from radial, lateral, and vertical movements. To remove the arms, it is only necessary to lift their outer ends so as to incline the arms sufficiently to clear the vertical shoulders of the notches f from the ring 6, and while thus slightly inclined to draw them out radially. In order to provide for the hanging of the arms in a vertical position around the staff A when it is desired to set the rack awa y in the corner or against the wall, and also have its arms out of the way, each arm may be constructed with a curved or inclined hooking-slot, 9, between. its ends, and the ad justable supporting and latching collar 0 may be constructed with a nearly-circular loop, h, divided into segments by radial stays h, as shown, and when the arms are withdrawn from their sockets they canbe hung upon the loop h by means of their hooking-slots g, as illustrated in the drawings.

While I prefer to use the loop h and arms with hooking-slots g, I may provide horizontal holes in the staff and vertical holes in the arms and fasten the arms by screws or pinsto the staff. The arms may be also provided with vertical holes m m and slots m m and into the slots vertical serewthreaded ends of angular spring-clam ps G are inserted and said ends confined by tubular headed nuts a, screwed upon the ends of the clamps, while in the holes the ends of vertical supports G G", terminating in heads, as g", and price-cardclampingjaws, asg offorms as shown,may be inserted. By providing the clamps upon the arms I) laundry articles of fine quality may be confined in position for drying, or the arms can be used as a part of a revolving paperfile rack, or for firmly holding goods on eXhibition on store-racks, and byproviding with the stands G G can be used for holding hats, bonnets, and the like and price-cards, while the clamps G and arms b are serving for holding dry-goods of other descriptions, harness, and other articles.

WVhen the rack is specially constructed for dwelling-house halls and public buildings, its arms will be made short, and during the day-time, or when not required to be in use, can be adjusted so as to hang vertically out of the way, as illustrated, and in such special use the umbrella-drip receiver will be applied at the bottom of the staff A, so that umbrellas passed down between the disk 0 and the ring 6 will, while held in position, rest with their ends in said drip-receiver. By having the clamp G fitted in the oblong slots m m and confined by the thumb'nuts n it can be readily slackened and slipped longitudinally on the arm I), so that its outer ends canbe swung around and articles confined by it removed from the arm, and also as readily readjusted after an article has been placed upon the arm. The latching-collar 0, being fitted loosely around the staff,is formed with alatchchamber, 0, in which a horiZontally-slidiug and vertically-revolving latch, M, is arranged,

I or more of the notchesa without withdrawing and holding the latch with the hand; and then. by turning the latch when the latch is opposite the deeper portion of the notch, so as to bring the bevel of its nose on top, the spring by forcing upon it will hold it against the shoulder of a notch a, and it can only be moved downward by withdrawing the latch with the hand or turning it around. The latch-collar is constructed independent of the rack-arm hub, and while both go down or up together the rack-arm hub can be revolved separately from it. The socket-ring D, for holding the tripodlegs E, is fitted around the staff A and confined by a set-screw, D, and it is cast with three sockets, s, for holding the legs in their incline supporting position, (shown in Fig. 1 in full lines,) and with bottomless sockets s, which are out of the vertical planes of the sockets s,for supporting the legs in their compacted position against the staff A, as indicated in Fig. 3.

As usual, below the socket-ring D a loose collar, T, confined by a set-screw, is applied around the staff, and between this collar and the legs stay-rods T are hooked, for the purpose of keeping the legs in their proper supporting position.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that I have improved revolving racks in suchja way that they are adapted to serve the several useful purposes hereinbefore mentioned; also,that they can be adjusted so as to be very compact when not set out for use; and also, that any one, or a number of the arms, may be conveniently detached and held in the hand while serving as a paper-file clamp and again readily replaced.

Instead of using pins or screws for fastening the arms in their vertically-suspended position around the staff A, as proposed, the screwthreaded ends of the legs of clamps may be inserted into said holes far enough to hold the arms in their suspended position; and, if desirable, each of the arms may be formed about midway of their length with a folding joint,so that they can be shortened by folding one half upon the other.

\Vhat I claim isl. The combination, with the central staff, A, having latching-notches'ct, of a revolving hub, B, comprising a collar, 1), disk 0, vertical circular flange d, radial arm socket-plates (1, extending forward beyond the disk 0, supporting-ring e, and detachable arms 6, formed ICE,

with notches f, substantial] y as and for the purpose described.

2. The detachable rackarms 1), formed with notchesf and hooking-slots g, in combination with the hub Band-the latching-collar O,pr0- vided with the loop h, substantially as de scribed.

3. The combination of the staff A, having 11 otches a, the rack-arm hub B,and the latchingcollar C, provided with a spring-latch, M, having a beveled nose, and arranged to slide and rotate, substantially as described.

4. The detachable rack-arms b, provided with the notches f, hole or holes m m, slots W W, and clamps G, in combination with hub B, latchingcollar O, and staff A,substantially as and for the purpose described.

5. The combination, with the staff A, revolving hub B, having detachable arms b,and collar 0, having supporting-loop h, of the socket-ring D, provided with two circles of sockets, s 3, those of one set being in different vertical planes from those of the other set,substantially as and for the purpose described.

(3. The combination, with the staff A, revolving hub B, and supporting-collar C,of the detachable arms 1). formed with notohesfihole or holes m m, and one or more stands, G G", substantially as and for the purpose described.

7. The leg-socket ring formed with two circles of sockets, s s, in combination with the staff A and legs E, substantially as and for the purpose described.

In testimony whereof I hereunto {IffiX my signature in presence of two witnesses.

GHARLEQ H. DEXTER. 

